Sirius looked around the train station. He'd been waiting eleven years for today. Hogwarts was only a train ride away. He turned towards his family. His brother and sister, well James and Lily, were waiting by their parents. They were excited about Hogwarts.
His father, Sirius, was holding his little brother Frederick. He was turning six in a few weeks.
Sirius walked back over to his family. He was about to talk when someone jumped on his back. He twisted around. Talley Shacklebolt grinned at him.
"Hiya Sirius. How are you? Aren't you excited? I just know we're going to be in Gryffindor!"
Sirius grabbed onto Talley's shoulders. "Calm down Talley! Yes, I'm excited and I know we'll be in Gryffindor." Sirius grinned at his best friend. "How much sugar did you put in your cereal today? Or should I say, how much cereal did you put in your sugar?"
Talley giggled and hugged Sirius tightly. Sirius smiled and closed his eyes. He returned the hug. He opened his eyes and was about to release Talley when four more arms surrounded them. He looked up to see James and Lily hugging them.
The train's whistle went off. Sirius' mother, Hermione, rushed over.
"Okay, it's time to board the train. I love you all, be good! Marie, let go of James' leg. You can't go to Hogwarts yet."
James picked up Marie. "In a little while. We'll still be there." James kissed her cheek and put her down.
The four boarded the train and quickly found a compartment. They put their heads through the windows to wave goodbye.
Sirius settled into his seat. Talley sat beside him with James and Lily across from them.
"Well, I don't know about you guys, but Mum woke me up way too early. I'm going to take a nap." Sirius laid his head in Talley's lap and fell asleep.
Talley looked down at him and smiled softly. She love Sirius, as more than a friend, but that was her personal secret. She gently brushed his hair out of his eyes. He smiled and burrowed deeper into her lap. Talley leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She completely missed Lily and James' smirks.
The compartment door slid open. A girl and a guy who closely resembled her peeked in.
"Is it okay if we sit in here? Everywhere else is taken."
James grinned. "Well, we'd love to, but my stupid brother is taking up the whole seat with his girlfriend. That leaves one seat and the floor."
The two looked at each other and shrugged. They came in and shut the door. "I'm Clara and this is my brother Marco."
Clara sat on the seat by James and Marco took a seat by her feet.
"Oh, I'm James Black, that's my identical brother, Sirius, and this is our triplet, Lily. The one holding Sirius' head is Talley Shacklebolt. Our parents and Sirius and Hermione Black. Talley is the oldest of four from Kingsley and Tala. So, who are your parents?"
Clara and Marco looked at each other, then back at James
"Well, we're not exactly sure who our father is. Our mother went back in time eleven years ago. Even she doesn't know why. But the point is that she slept with two men while she was there. Our mother is Astoria Greengrass, but our father is either Lucius Malfoy or Severus Snape." Clara looked a little unsure when she said this. She was worried that they would kick her and Marco out.
James just looked at her. "Well, I'll write to my mother and ask if she knows any spells that will let you know."
Sirius suddenly sat up. He looked around wildly. "Did someone say 'write to mother'? Why?" Sirius looked at Talley, who was glaring at him with bleary eyes.
"You woke me up for that?" Talley noticed Marco on the floor. "Oh, I'm sorry! We're taking up all the room. Here." Talley made Sirius switch seats. She sat in the middle seat and leaned against him. She patted the seat next to her.
Marco grinned and took the seat. "So, how long have you two been going out?"
Talley froze. Sirius looked at him with shock in his eyes.
"W-w-we aren't going out." Sirius stuttered. Talley closed her eyes. When she opened them, she straightened up. Sirius looked at her just in time to see a tear roll down her cheek.
"I'm going to go ask the conductor how much time we have," she choked out. Lily stood up and took her arm. "I'm going with you."
Talley ran out of the compartment. "He doesn't like me! He never will!" She began sobbing.
Lily cam up to her and hugged her. "You're his best friend, of course he likes you." This only made Talley cry harder.
"Great, so I'm stuck in the friend zone. He'll never love me! What am I supposed to do?"
Lily was only slightly shocked. She'd had a feeling that this is what she'd been feeling.
Back in the compartment, Sirius was still staring at the door. He could slightly hear their voices, but he couldn't quite make out what they were saying.
"I'm going after her." He left the compartment before James could stop him.
He followed the sound of sobbing. He found his sister holding a sobbing Talley. Talley didn't hear him come up, so when strong arms surrounded her, shw was a little chocked. She turned into Sirius and held him close.
Sirius tightened his arms. He motioned with his head for Lily to go back to the compartment. She smirked and left.
Sirius pulled Talley even closer. "Hey, I'm sorry. It's not that I don't want to go out with you. It would be the best thing in my life if you were my girlfriend. It's just, when that guy asked, we weren't dating. But…" Sirius drew Talley away from him and pulled her chin up so she was looking at him. "I would be my honor if you would agree to be my girlfriend."
Talley looked up at him. She suddenly grinned and threw her arms around him.
"Yes, yes, yes, yes!" she screamed. She pulled back and placed a chaste kiss on Sirius' lips.
They made the trip to the conductor hand-in-hand.
When they walked back into the compartment, only Lily spotted the difference. She grinned when Sirius sat down and pulled Talley into his lap.
"Something you guys want to tell us?" Lily asked.
Talley grinned. "Nope. I think you can figure it out for yourself." She looked at their blank faces. "Or not. Well, then, I'll tell you. Me and Sirius are going out!"
The rest of the train ride was spent picking on them, until the lunch trolley came. Then they started picking on them again.
They quieted down when the train stopped. They walked off the train together and stood there waiting. When a huge man came up to them, they grinned.
"Hagrid!" They hugged him, then eagerly climbed into the boats. Talley, Lily and Sirius in one boat, James, Clara and Marco in another.
They craned their necks, trying to see around the huge rocks. They gasped when they finally saw Hogwarts. It was amazing.
They were quiet as Hagrid led them up the steps. Flitwick stepped out of the shadows. "Thank you Hagrid, I'll take it from here. You can go take your place now."
"Welcome first years. In a few minutes, you will be led into the Great Hall. When your name is called, you will walk to the front of the room. The Sorting Hat will be placed on you head. It will determine what house you're in. Your house is your family. However, we do expect inter-house communication."
Flitwick left and returned minutes later. "We are ready for you, please follow me."
The first years followed him. As they filed down the middle aisle, they grinned. This was everything they had been waiting for.
"I will call your names from this scroll. Please come up here, I will place the Sorting Hat on your head. When it calls out a name, you will go to that table."
"James Black."
James walked up to the Hat. He smiled at his siblings and sat down. The hat was on his head for five seconds when it called out "Gryffindor!" He smiled in relief. He quickly ran over to the correct table.
"Lily Black."
She walked up. The Hat barely touched her head when it yelled out "Slytherin!" Lily gasped, but she went over to her table anyway.
"Sirius Black."
He walked up and sat down. The Hat was on his head for two minutes before it finally yelled out "Gryffindor!" He smiled sadly at Lily before going over to join his brother.
Fifteen other first years were called before it got to Talley.
"Talley Shacklebolt."
Talley skipped up to the Hat. She was thinking Gryffindor over and over in her head. The Hat sat on her head for ten seconds before calling out "Gryffindor!"
Talley grinned and ran over to join Sirius and James. When she sat down, Sirius wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She smiled and leaned into him.
"Clara Snape."
Whispers went through the hall as Clara walked up. The Hat took twenty seconds for it to decide "Slytherin!"
Clara walked over to join Lily. She was glad that she already had a friend in her house.
"Marco Snape."
Even more whispers rang out when a second Snape was called. No one could believe that Snape had had not one, but two children. "Slytherin!"
Only ten more first years were called for their houses.
At the end of the feast, Minerva got up and said Dumbledore's old speech. Once that was said, everyone got up and left.
Lily waved to her brothers and followed Clara and Marco down to the dungeons.
James and Sirius shrugged and went up to the Gryffindor common room. Once they, they all wrote to their parents. Their first year had officially begun.
